Low Power Residual Remaining Power Indicator

1. An apparatus comprising: an electric power button which starts operation of an operating system when input is received from a user; a controller energized in response to user input to said power button and responsive to an input received through a switch other than said electric power button while in one of a plurality of termination states in which the operation of the operating system is terminated; a keyboard including a plurality of keys; a plurality of emission devices which are turned on in response to each-key input while in an operation state where the operating system is started; and an executor, coupled to said controller, which performs a predetermined process while preserving the termination state in which the operating system is in when the input to the switch is accepted by said controller in the termination state in which the operating system is in, wherein the predetermined process performed by the executor is one or more of the group of: indicating the position of said electric power button to the user; lighting a projector for illuminating said keyboard; or indicating a residual amount of the remaining battery capacity by turning on a pre-designated combination of said emission devices.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said termination states are a state selected from the group consisting of suspended, hibernation, sleep, standby and a low power state.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising: firmware which enables said executor to execute the predetermined process.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined process performed by said executor is the process of indicating the position of said electric power button to the user.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherin a keyboard.accepts a second input to said which the keyboard accepts a second input provided by a user, and the predetermined process performed by said executor is the process of lighting a projector for illuminating said keyboard.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined process performed by said executor is the process of indicating to the user a residual amount of battery capacity remaining for powering said apparatus, based on an indicated termination state.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said executor while in the termination state performs a process which indicates a residual amount of the remaining battery capacity by turning on a pre-designated combination of said emission devices.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein each of said termination states is a state selected from the group consisting of suspended, hibernation, sleep, standby and low power state.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising: a keyboard including a plurality of keys; a switch used as a first key that is predetermined among the plurality of keys; and an inputter which accepts keyed input to a second key that is predetermined among the plurality of keys; wherein said controller accepts an input to the first key, wherein said executor performs a process associated with the second key when said input accepts keyed input to the second key.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein said inputter accepts keyed input to the second key for a predetermined period, when accepting keyed input to the first key.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein said controller supplies power to said input, when accepting keyed input to the first key, and said executor terminates power supplied to said inputter, when the processing associated with the second key is completed.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein said inputter accepts keyed input to two predetermined keys among said plurality of keys, when detecting keyed input to the first key, and said executor performs a process associated with a combination of the two keys.

13. A method comprising the steps of: accepting an input to a switch other than an electric power button of an information processing apparatus while in one of an operation termination state in which operation of an operating system is terminated; and executing a predetermined processing while preserving the operation termination state in which it was in when accepting the input to the switch in one of said operation termination states, wherein the predetermined process is one or more of the group of: indicating the position of said electric power button to a user; lighting a projector for illuminating said keyboard; or indicating a residual amount of the remaining battery capacity of the information processing apparatus.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein said one of said termination states is a state selected from the group consisting of suspended, hibernation, sleep, standby and a low power state.

15. A method comprising the steps of: detecting a pressing of a predetermined key when a processing part and an input part are in one of a plurality of termination states; and moving the input part to an operational state while preserving said processor part in the termination state it was in when the pressing of the predetermined key is detected, wherein moving the input part to an operational state comprises performing one or more of the following processes: indicating the position of an electric power button to a user; lighting a projector for illuminating a keyboard; or indicating a residual amount of the remaining battery capacity of a computing apparatus.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein said termination state is a state selected from the group consisting of suspended, hibernation, sleep, standby and a low power state.

17. An apparatus comprising: an electric power button which starts operation of an operating system when input is received from a user; a controller energized in response to user input to said power button and responsive to an input received through a switch other than said electric power button while in one of a plurality of termination states in which the operation of the operating system is terminated; a keyboard including a plurality of keys; a switch used as a first key that is predetermined among the plurality of keys; an inputter which accepts keyed input to a second key that is predetermined among the plurality of keys; an executor, coupled to said controller, which performs a predetermined process while preserving the termination state in which the operating system is in when the input to the switch is accepted by said controller in the termination state in which the operating system is in, wherein said controller accepts an input to the first key and supplies power to said input when accepting keyed input to the first key and said executor terminates power supplied to said inputter when a process associated with the second key is completed.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein said termination states are a state selected from the group consisting of suspended, hibernation, sleep, standby and a low power state.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 , further comprising: firmware which enables said executor to execute the predetermined process.

20. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein each of said termination states is a state selected from the group consisting of suspended, hibernation, sleep, standby and a low power state.